Method of making compound metallic articles



G. A. MEAD. METHOD OF MAKING COMPOUND METALLIC ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 22, I919.

Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT. OFFICE.

GEORGE A. MEAD, OF MA1\TSFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE OHIO BRASS COMPANY, OF

MANSFIELD, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF JERSEY.

METHOD OF MAKING COMPOUND METALLIC ARTICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

Application filed October 22, 1919. Serial No. 332,459.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. MEAD, a citizen of the United States of America, re-

siding at Mansfield, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, have invented cer-' tain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Making Compound Metallic Articles,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the process of uniting bodies of unlike metals and especially to processes in which the unlike metals are so firmly united by a weld as to resist the action of both temperature changes and mechanical stresses and whereby a union of high electrical conductivity is attained.

My invention is of particular value in uniting such metals as iron or steel with copper or copper alloys although it is applicable to the uniting of other dissimilar metals.

unite to steel or iron a mass of copper or copper alloy which is of intricate shape and such-as can be produced only to advantage by means of molds. A process of this character has particular value in producing various electrical devices in which intricate shapes of a high conducting metal are to be united to steel or iron and in which the union must be practically that of a weld and I will describe the application of my invention to such metals although it is applicable to others.

In the drawing which illustrates my inor copper alloy member to the bar which has been prepared as shown in Fig. 2 or 3.

Fig. shows the steel or iron bar and the copper or copper alloy mass as united by my process.

Fig. 6 shows a part section of the article in Fig. 5 and represents the intimate union between the bar and copper or alloy mass.

ing about 6400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In carrying out my invention I take a bar 1 as shown in Fig. 1 of suitable size and shape and which may be of rolled or cast metal and of steel or iron. To this bar I apply to the surface thereof a coating 2 of a metal which has the property of strongly uniting or alloying with the steel and formmg an inseparable union therewith except as the same may be removed by melting, acid, grinding, or filing, etc. Thls coating may be composed of copper and zinc forming the ordinary brazing metal of-about sixty percent.'copper and'forty percent. zinc and is preferably of a lower melting point than that of the copper or copper alloy applied thereto but which will readily alloy therewith. The coating may be of pure copper or a copper-tin alloy or other metals which will meet the requirements as herein set forth. It is also of value where it is desired to In applying the coating I have found that this can be most readily performed by means of theoxyacetylene flame 3 or other high temperature flames, that of oxyacetylene be- In applying the coating by a high temperature flame the coating forms a union which is permanent as it is to all intents and purposes alloyed to the steel or iron member. The application of the coating is made by heating small areas of the surface of the bar and melting unto such heated areas the coating metal 2 which is supplied in the form of rods or sticks 4 and progressively extend this process of treating small areas until the desired surface of the bar has received a proper coating. It will be understood that a suitable fluxing agent may be used on the surface of the steel if desired and such fluxing agent may be powdered borax which is melted or fused on the surface of the bar before applying the coating metal. I have found,

however, that by applying the coating metalwith the oxyacetylene or other high temperature flame that it isnot necessary to use a fluxing agent although there are at t mes advantages in so doing.

A modified method of applying the coating is shown in Fig. 3 and consists in melt ng in a refractory pot 5 or other suitable container the metal 6 to be used as a coating. To prevent rapid oxidation of this coating metal and to assist in the union of the coating metal 6 to the rod 1, the top of the coating metal may be covered With a fluxing material 7 such as borax, potassium chlorid,etc. The

bar 1 is first heated and a fluxing agent such have applied thereto the copper or bronze portion and if this isof such shape as to require forming in a mold, the bar 1 is properly embedded-in the sand 8 as shown in Fig.

4 with the coated surface extending-into the mold cavity 9. The molten copper or bronze 10 which isto fill the cavity 9 and form a part of the bar- 1 when solidified, is' now poured into the mold and preferably allowed to flow over the coatingon the rod thereby heating the rod and the coating and causing the coating and molten copper or--bronze to form an alloy, the one with the other and, whereby a practically one-pi eee article is roduced in which the co per or bronze member 11 and rod 1 are inseparably united by a union which ispractically the equal of a perfect weld. I a

Upon sectioning and examining the union between the bar land the copper or bronze member 11 it will be found that the two have formed an inseparablejuni'on' through the medium of the coating metal and which has to a large degree lost its identity by alloying with the member 11 and a careful study of the union' produced by my method will show no'definite line of demarcation between-the bar 1 and the member 11.

In applying, the coating with the oxyacetylene or other high temperature flamethe surface of the bar 1 is brought to the point of fusion andwhen thecoating metal is melted on to such fused surface it immediately alloys therewith. and. the molten copper or bronze 10, having a higher melting point than. that'of the coating metal, will, when properly applied thereto, cause the coating, metal to melt and an alloy is formed 7 betw en the two.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is 1. The process of making an article of two dissimilar metals comprising the steps of applying to the surface of one of the metals a dissimilar coating metal of a lower melting point to act as a nexus by fusing the surface of one of the dissimilar metals, then fusing the coating metal and applying it to the fused surface of the one metal,

then fusing the metal to form the second dissimilar metal referred. to and then ap- ,manufacture composed of dissimilar metals of one of the metals, then applying to the ing the steps of fusing a small surface area treated, then applying to the coating the plying it while fused to the coating metal and at a higher temperature than the melting point of the coating metal.

2. The process of making an article of comprising the steps of coating the surface of one of the metals with an alloy composed of copper and zinc, then applying to the coating the other dissimilar metal in a molten condition and at a temperature higher than the melting point of the coating metal.

3. The process of making an article of 'manufacture of dissimilar metals comprising the steps of fusing the surface of one of the metals, then applying thereto in a fused state a dissimilar metal, comprising an alloy having a copper base and of a lower melting point than the metal to which it is applied to form a coating, then inserting the metal with the coating in, a mold formed witha cavity, then applying to the coated surface a stream of molten metal having a higher melting point than that of the coating and filling the cavity therewith. v

4. The process of making an article of manufacture composed of dissimilar metals comprising the steps of fusing the surface fused surface a coating of a copper base alloy, then applying to the coating the other dissimilar metal in a molten'condition and at a temperature higher than the melting point of the coating-metal.

5. The process of making an article of manufacture composed of two dissimilar metals of different melting points comprisof the metal having the higher melting point, then melting on and alloying to this surfacevwhile still fused a metallic coating, then repeating this operation of fusing and covering until the desired area' has been second dissimilar metal, of a higher melting point than the coating metal and dissimilar thereto, in a molten condition and at 'a temperature higher than the melting point of the coating metal and then allowing the second dissimilar metal to solidify.

6. The process of making an article of manufacture composed of two dissimilar metals of different melting points comprising the steps of fusing a small surface area a. of the metal having the higher melting point, then melting on and alloying to this surface while still fused a metallic coating having a lower melting point than the two dissimilar metals and dissimilar to each, then repeating this operation of fusing and covering until the desired area has been treated, then applying to the coating the second dissimilar metal in a molten condition and ata higher temperature than the 130 meagre I melting point of the coating metal and then allowing the second dissimilar metal to solidify. 7. The, process of making an article of manufacture. composed of two dissimilar metals of difierent melting points comprising the steps of first applying a heating flame to a small area of the surface of the metal having the higher meltin point to fuse said localized area, then. using and applying to said small area and by said same heating flame a metal to form an alloyed coating, then repeating this operation of fusing and coveringuntil the desired area has been treated, then applying to the coating the secondfdissim ilar metal of a higher melting point than the coating metal, in a molten condition and at a temperature higher than the melting point of the coating metal and then allowing the second dissimilar metal to solidify.'

In testimony whereof ture.

GEORGE A. MEAD.

I afiix my signa- 

